Running Away
by JMiranda56
Summary: Nattie Marks is just a runaway. A runaway with a shady past. But when she's discovered by a group and meets Luke, her whole life changes forever. The group endures thick and thin through the zombie apocalypse and they're all in for a bumpy ride. Luke/OC
1. Chapter 1

**Hey everyone! This is my first Walking Dead fanfic, so forgive me if it's horrible. Sorry I made the first chapter so short! I'll try to make them longer next time! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this fanfic and hope you review! Take care!**

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Nattie didn't know what to do anymore.

She was walking in the dark forest alone, barely having any energy to move. The stab wound in her shoulder stained her grey flannel shirt a dark crimson red. Her usual wavy blond hair was now flat with dirt and dry blood. Her face was smothered with specks of blood and dirt and her once beautiful blue eyes now looked dead.

She wanted to let go, to die on the spot, but that would mean turning into one of them, and she didn't want that. She had to keep going, she _had _to. If it meant getting to Wellington. She needed to rest, just for a couple of minutes. She stood against a tree and slid down it. Her vision started to get hazy around the edges. She was slipping away. She shook her head, but that only made it worse. _No, I can't die. Not now. Not when I'm so close._ She stood up and her body rocked violently as she stood. She stumbled through the woods for what seemed like hours. At this point, she couldn't take it anymore. She felt herself lurch forward and fall onto the ground. The only thing she saw was darkness.

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She woke up laying down on her back. Her vision was blurry at first, but recovered after a couple blinks. She was laying down on a bed next to a window. The sun was shining beams through the glass and reflecting light all around the room.

She heard the door open slowly and saw a young man peer inside. "Good, you're awake," he said with a sigh of relief.

He had walked inside and closed the door. He was tall, had brown, shaggy hair and brown eyes, and had a ragged jumper.

"Everyone else thought that you were dead but, I didn't think so," he said, walking up and kneeling down next to the bed. She tried to sit up, which resulted in a slight sting in her shoulder, which was wrapped in bandages. "Carlos, our doctor, treated your stab wound. Now, I'm no doctor, but I could tell it was pretty bad, not just because there was so much blood," he said with sorrow. "What happened?" she asked, placing a hand on her wound. "We found you in the forest unconscious and brought you here. Carlos treated you and said to wait, see if you would wake up. I was the only one actually nice enough to check up on you once in a while, make sure you were still alive," he said, smiling at the last comment.

She tried to stand up and the stranger helped her up as well. She leaned against his figure as he helped her walk downstairs, where she saw other people sitting in the living room. "Luke! What are you doing? She's not supposed to be walking around in her condition," a Spanish man, who she thought to be the doctor, said. "I'm fine," she said, shoving off of Luke lightly. "Nasty wound you have there," a man with white hair said, pointing to her bandaged shoulder. "Yeah," she said placing a hand on it.

"Do you remember how you got it?" he asked. The memory came back to her.

_She was running away from something, she didn't know what, but she knew it was dangerous. She heard them yelling her name and telling her to come back. She wasn't going to look back. She had to keep running. As she ran, she thought she could see someone. She ran faster towards the figure and saw a familiar face. "Jeff! Jeff, you need to help me!" she said as she drew closer to him. He led her far away from the men chasing after her until they were certain that they weren't being followed. "Thanks Jeff. I would have died if it wasn't for-" Suddenly, she felt Jeff stab her in her shoulder. Her mouth left open and tears welling up in her eyes, he whispered in her ear, "I'm sorry, Nattie. I'm so, so sorry." She could hear his voice breaking as he said the words that meant nothing to her. He removed the knife, which released even more pain. He ran away from her into the forest. He betrayed her. Her one true friend betrayed her..._

She came back to the real world and saw that everyone was still looking at her, waiting for an answer. "I just, ran into the wrong type of people," she said, not revealing the full truth. "Is that the truth?" Luke asked, who was sitting beside her. She nodded. "I believe her," Luke said, staring at everyone else. "Are you kidding? She could be with Carver!" A pregnant woman said as she rose from the couch. "Who's Carver?" she asked, curious. "Don't act like you don't know him. Everyone else may buy your story, but you can't fool me!" she exclaimed before walking inside the kitchen. "Pregnancy. It can really get to a woman," a man who Nattie thought to be her husband said as he followed her into the kitchen. "Sorry about that. Rebecca has trust issues," Luke said, redirecting his attention to her. "I'm gonna go tell Sarah about...I'm sorry, we haven't gotten your name," Carlos said. "Nattie," she said calmly. "Nice to meet you, Nattie," Luke said, smiling. "Nice to meet you too, Luke," she said, smiling for the first time in a long time.

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**Well, what do you think? Post a review if you have the time. It would mean a lot to me if you did. I will try to write chapters as much as I can since I have school now. Anyway, I will see you guys in the next chapter of "Running Away"!**


	2. Chapter 2

Days passed and the group started to trust her more, even Rebecca. She met Sarah, who was actually a nice girl. She went fishing with Pete and Nick, and she got to help Rebecca with her pregnancy. She grew closer to everyone, especially Luke.

"Anyway, who's this Carver guy?" she asked Luke one day as they sat together on the couch. "Well, it's kinda a long story. I don't wanna bore you with it," he said, shrugging the subject off. She scooted closer to him with a smile on her face and said, "I'm listening." He shook his head and explained. "He was the leader of a group we were all in with some other folks. I didn't necessarily like the way he was runnin' things, so we decided to run away. We all got out safe and found this cabin." She widened her eyes at the tale and said, "How was he running things?" He obviously seemed shaken by discussing this, but he continued talking. "He takes things a little _too _serious. He was smart, but damn, was he violent. If you did one thing wrong, he would give you hell for it. And I mean _serious _hell," he said quietly. She widened her eyes at the thought.

"He didn't do anything like that to you, did he?" He raised his eyebrows and didn't speak, which only made her think the worst. "Oh, Luke," she said, feeling pity for him. "He even left a scar," he said, not meeting her eyes. "Can I see it?" she asked. He nodded, but looked around for anyone else before leading her upstairs into an empty room.

"Now listen, you can't tell anyone about this. I haven't told them since it happened. Swear to me Nattie that you won't tell them," he said, getting close to her. "I promise," she said after nodding her head. "Good," he said nodding. He backed away from her, turned around, and took off his shirt.

"Now, I don't want you to freak out when you see this, because it's pretty ugly," he said, moving his head to the side. "I won't, I promise," she said. He nodded before turning around slowly. The sight before her made her eyes widen. It started from his collar bone and ended at his breast. The other one started at the corner of his stomach and traveled down diagonally. She walked closer to him and felt the scars on his chest, which made him wince the slightest. She felt tears well up in her eyes at the sight.

Why would someone do something so horrible to Luke, the nicest, most thoughtful person she had ever met?

"They aren't that bad," she said, trying to hide that she was crying. "Hey, what's wrong?" he asked, lifting her head up by her chin to look at him.

_I have to tell him, I have to..._

"Nothing, it's just...Luke, I need to tell you something I should have told you since the day you found me in the woods," she said, the tears that were held in her eyes now flowing freely down her cheeks. "What is it?" he asked, caressing her cheek with his hand. She looked down at his scars again and traced them with her fingers gently. "Before you found me, I was running away from someone," she said, feeling her heart beat faster and faster as she got more and more nervous. "Who were you running away from?" he asked.

She had to tell him, but before she could utter out the words, they heard a voice call from downstairs. "Luke! Nattie! Where are you?" Pete called. "You can tell me later, ok?" Luke said before putting his shirt back on. "Yeah, ok," she said.

They headed downstairs to see everybody outside, crowding around something. Before they even had a chance to move, they heard the boom of a gunshot. Luke ran outside and exclaimed, "Whoa! Whoa! What the fuck?!"

"What's goin' on?" she asked, running after Luke, who joined the crowd. She joined the crowd to find a young girl laying on the ground with a bloody bite on her left arm. "Damn, girl, that's one helluva bite you got there," Nattie said, trying to cheer up the little girl. The girl stood up and said, "I'm not...I'm not working for anyone...I don't know what you're talking about. I just need help."

Nattie felt sorry for the girl. She looked at Luke and saw that he had a look of worry on his face.

"We got a doctor right here, okay. He'll have a look." Luke said, but he wasn't finished. "Now what the hell is wrong with you people?! Okay, she's just scared!"

"We're all scared, Luke. Don't act like we're the ones being irrational cause we don't believe this bullshit story," Rebecca replied, stepping closer so she could look him in the eye.

Nattie stepped in between them before anybody would throw a punch. "Back off, Rebecca," she growled, which made Rebecca back away.

"Let me take a look," Carlos said as he walked through the group towards the girl. He held out his hand to examine her wound, but the girl hesitated. She looked towards Nattie for support, and she replied, "It's okay. He's a doctor." She looked at Carlos, pulled up her sleeve, and showed her arm to him. He kneeled down and examined her arm, while she winced in pain every time he touched it.

"Hmm, whatever it was, it got you good," Carlos said after a long moment of silence.

"Wait, what do you mean 'whatever it was'? You mean to tell me you don't know what bit her?" Nattie asked, outraged.

Carlos stood up and turned to the group before saying, "Yes, that's what I'm saying. A bite like that...could be anything. There's only one way to find out. We wait."

"Are you kidding me?! It's obviously a dog bite! Just treat her wound, for God's sake!" Nattie exclaimed, which directed everybody's attention towards her.

"We need to be sure, Nattie. I'm sorry. It's the only way. In the meantime, we'll lock her in the shed," Carlos said, crossing his arms.

The girl grew very apprehensive as she looked around the group for someone to argue about the situation.

"What about my arm? It needs to get cleaned, stitched, and bandaged," she said, walking closer to the group.

"I'm sorry. It's the only way to find out. If it's true and it's just a dog bite, then I'll clean it and stitch it in the morning," Carlos said as he headed back into the house.

"I'm sorry. It's the best we're gonna get," Luke said, frowning at the little girl. Nattie, Nick, and Luke guided the girl towards the shed while she clutched her arm in pain.

"Come to think of it, I haven't gotten your name," Nattie remarked as she tried to cheer up the girl.

"Clementine. My name's Clementine," she said, looking at Nattie.

"Nice to meet you, Clementine," Nattie said, smiling. Clementine smiled, too, but it quickly diminished as Nick opened the door to the shed. It hurt Nattie to see the dark, ominous shed that Clementine was staying in. At least it was only for the night. Clementine slowly walked into the shed and looked around. Before she could turn around, Luke was closing the shed doors.


End file.
